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BJU Space/Earth - 6

BJU - Space and Earth Science - Chapter 6

Any of the rocky minor planets that orbit the sun, mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They are far smaller than even the smallest of the nine main planets.

asteroid

An unusually bright meteor that typically explodes.

bolide

Small silicate spheres often found in meteorites.

chondrule

The spherical region of glowing gas and dust that surrounds the nucleus of a comet.

coma

A relatively small, icy satellite of the sun, usually with a very eccentric orbit. When near the sun in its orbit, it produces one or more tails of dust and gas that glow or reflect sunlight.

comet

A large, brilliant meteor. Also called a bolide.

fireball

The nucleus and coma of a comet.

head

Frozen liquids and gases such as methane, ammonia, and water found in the heads of comets and in the atmospheres of the outer planets.

ices

A type of meteorite that consists of 85-90 percent iron.

iron

A hypothetical belt of relatively small rocky objects containing a large percentage of ices that orbit the sun in a region starting beyond Uranus and extending outward for perhaps 20 ua. Several hundred objects smaller than Pluto have been found in region

Kuiper belt

A meteor shower that occurs mid November every year when the Earth runs into meteoric debris from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. To an observer on the ground, the meteors appear to radiate from the direction of the constellation Leo.

Leonids

A mass of stone or metal that orbits the sun but is too small to be called a planet or asteroid (i.e. any such object that is too small to be observed from the surface of the Earth). It can become a meteor if it enters the Earth's atmosphere.

meteoroid

A remnant of a meteor large enough that it survives the fall through the atmosphere and hits the ground.

meteorite

A rocky object in orbit around the sun, smaller than a planet but large enough to be observed from the surface of the Earth; also known as an asteroid.

minor planet

The solid central part of a comet's head, consisting of rocks, ices, and organic matter.

nucleus

A comet that returns or is expected to return to the inner solar system because it has an elliptical orbit.

periodic comet

A meteor shower that occurs about mid August every year when the Earth runs into meteoric debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. To an observer on the ground, the meteors appear to radiate from the direction of the constellation Pereus.

Perseids

In astronomy, the point in the sky from which shower meteors seem to radiate.

radiant

Meteors that originate as meteoroids orbiting along the path of a former or active comet. The shower occurs when the Earth intersects the comet's orbit.

shower meteors

A meteor that comes from a random, unpredictable direction and may occur any time of the year.

sporadic meteor

The most common type of meteorite, composed mostly of silicate minerals with 10-15 percent other materials, such as the metals iron and nickel.

stones

A meteorite composed approximately of half silicates and half iron.

stony-irons

The elongated area on the ground where scattered meteorite fragments from an exploded fireball are found.

strewn field

A long tenuous streamer extending from the head of a comet when the comet is near the sun. The tail is oriented in the direction away from the sun because of the pressure of the solar wind.

tail

The glowing trail behind a fireball.

train

The straight, bluish cometary tail composed of ionized gasses.

type I tail

The curved, variously colored cometary tail composed of dust.

type II tail

Crosshatched lines that appear on the polished surface of a sectioned iron meteorite that has been acid etched.